Sharia Law Replaces Civil Law in Poor Indonesian Islands - Lewis Simmons

[chilmyxy]

you don't know how the feel of Indonesian...

I am a muslim... Iam Indonesian.. I am a student of ITTelkom University..

We have our will you can't judge by yourself.. we never have class faith with cristhianity, budist, hinduism maybe we live in big union of Islam...

don't disturb another house public...

we as Indonesian have free will and responsibility that planted from child n tolerate.. we are not like in western or in arabian

[Salva3632]

@chilmyxy I am an Indonesian an well, and the radical movement and Islamic extremist r growing fast in indonesia, they have closed, burned down thousand of churches, and also the case presented above is the fact.

[psutowo]

sharia is basically the rules and customs that the arabic people have used since over a thousand years ago. don't you think the world has changed just a little bit since then? if you were sick and you went to a doctor that was educated with knowledge from over a thousand years ago, would you listen to him/her? (since it was from thousand years ago let's assume him)

[jordana8899]

Christianity is for the sons of whores

Bible = Fake

Christian Women = Dick sucking sluts

Priests = Child Molesters and pedophiles

Earth is NOT flat....and Dinosaurs DID exist

[eorobinson3]

@jordana8899Id

I'd rather have my wife once a whore as you call it, its called college you barbarian, oh thats right most muslim women aren't allowed to get an education, how lucky of you to have a western education that you would never receive under your Sunni shia slave states in the middle east. You really think that's the kind of response you should be selling your sisters in bondage over there. Just another brainwashed female apologist for that misogynistic cult.

[imrandol]

@lynleyinlondon : for example.Churches gave order to ban scientific inventions and ordered them to kill them.shariya law is not like that plz read shariya first and then speak against it.if u read shariya and quran u will come to know how easy and logical it is

[imrandol]

Islam is very natural religion... i hope u have wrong perception regarding Islam. i hope u have seen or watch few ppl doing wrong thing... please do not judge religion by its ppl..please ask ppl who know Islam very well..shariya law is not like church law at early ages...

[angrygunsmith]

@lynleyinlondon islam is not a religion, a belief, it is a 100 percent system of life and thats what makes it seem so scary

[cinnamonpapprika]

... =A= Okay, so I've lived in Indonesia all my life and I've never heard of a region called Bula Kumba or whatever is that.

[rhomas913]

@cinnamonpapprika

a simple internet search indicates that Bulukumba Regency is one of the twenty one regencies in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The city of Ujungbulu is its largest city.

[edwardlucky82]

To all who want to learn, most of indonesian are good and kind by nature. I am for one sad to see my beloved country turn to like this because government gave in to some insignificant number of people stupid demand. Sharia police is not a real police fyi. They are just uneducated people who want to look cool. Many acehness especially women are suffering because of the law. Feel free to come to Indonesia and see it first hand. Aceh is only a tiny area comparable to rhode island to US.

[hross233]

i wonder if americans if they should, G_d forbid, hear the words, "sharia law has been admitted into america and will be follow" would americans get off their butts or just sit & say, Oh! how terrible. we deserve to lose our country is we don't fight for it, that is, ALL not just military fight

[kongsau]

sharia is Democracy + freedom

When I hear your words, I discovered your ignorance

This is your problem

Read about Islam from its origin

Read about the Islamic Sharia law

Discover your ignorance of who speaks of them

[kongsau]

Islam is peace

The problem you have understanding the problem .Not a problem between us and you .

The problem is the occupation of Palestine

[Melki]

Pancasila and UUD 45 is the foundation of unity in Indonesia, they has been since the beginning of the country. They are strong, and maneuverable, supports local orders, and supports life. People who had problems with this subject need to unite and appeal to the Higher Courts.

[khuramtoor]

Why they are so much afraid of Sharia? When Communism, Capitalism, and Socialism has only given poverty, wars, injustice, rule and concentration of wealth to few, monarchy, dictatorship and now wait for the worst rule of mega Banks called "World Government". Muslim after suffering from the same injustice have turned to Islamic law of Sharia.

Taliban had given peace and drug free society, whereas western democracy given 92% of drugs, tens of thousand of deaths, destabilized region under US.

[AbuAfak123]

@khuramtoor

Salam,

only a fanatic and supporter of hatred and violance can speak about the European society like this. Millions of muslims came to hear, because of several of problems in the Ummah. The Taliban and peace? Are you joking? They are killing everybody, who believes different, who leaves the islamic ideology. They assure their Jihad by dealing with drugs.

Wa salam

[khuramtoor]

@AbuAfak123

I am not in support of Taliban System, that was not ideally designed or implemented, still it was thousands of times better then American system which is for elites to escort safe passage for drugs, oil $ gas lines, and afghan natural wealth.

However, Taliban are installed by US, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan Zia as Wahabi brand of Islam. I am not against any sect but it in fact created drugs, weapon, and corrupt culture in Pakistan.

Having said that I am against US supported Taliban.

[khuramtoor]

@AbuAfak123

You are such an ignorant, please let me educate you. Today world is enslaved by elites (Builderburg group, CFR, UN, Skull & Bones, Illuminati, and mega Banks, Youtube keyword), they control every country, and support both sides of the war.

Thye give loans to the third world countries and make them economical and political slaves.

Do you know the fact OBAMA, BUSH, Clinton, Kissinger, Gates, and thousands of other elite are not Muslims, Christian, or Jews but Satan worshipers.

[Chiflado21]

So if there's the choice between an antiquated Dutch colonial legal system and an even more antiquated ultra-imperialistic Arab legal system, which one should you choose?

[emangpalinggila]

wait wait. Islam never teach to kill each other. u are all wrong. Islam doesn't teach to be dreadful. the terrorist out there is just a heretic!!! . Prophet Muhammad says. there is 2 kind of bad guy. 1. a people that have other religion other than Islam SHOULD NOT BE HARMED. 2. people against Islam should be enemy. we are peaceful people. we don't like war. sharia is not disaster. sharia WILL give us balance in life. in sharia history. there are no thing called inflation. it just made by human.

[newtype64]

That is your opinionand you need to keep it that way, just an opinion. In other words let them choose the government they want. They don't need us to changing their way of life. If they wanted secular democracy then they would not have rejected it and replaced it with Sharia.

[newtype64]

The West has invaded non Islamic lands. such as Vietnam and South Ameirca. However you invade Muslim lands the most because that is where the oil is. Even president Eisenhower took note of that correlation. You can't stop us from practicing Sharia law in our borders. That is our right as Muslims. You can't force democracy on us if you do then you have proven yourself wrong. By saying that you are not at war with Islam.

[newtype64]

Iraq and Aghanistan were not problems until we made them problems and I have proved it to you on your profile.

[newtype64]

Research the Islamic golden age. See what we Muslims have created. Research the great African Empires of Timbuktu, Mali, Songhay, and Ghana. Look up Mansu Musa. The whole brown and black skinned world has been at a freeze due to colonization. However we are waking back up and making strides in our progress we are modernizing rapidly in many Muslim countries.

[newtype64]

What countries are Muslims invading and occupying RIGHT NOW killing off the hundreds of thousands of the indegenious population all in the name of spreading Islam? What countries have the West invaded and are occupying RIGHT NOW killing off hundreds of thousands of the indegenious population in order to spread democracy? Islamic colonization? But our religion is the REAL threat?

[newtype64]

Muslim nations are not building foregin military bases in the West like you are on our lands. Muslim nations are not suporting dictaors in the West but you do this in Muslim lands. Muslim countries have not Illegally invaded and occupied your territories forcing Sharia on your people. But you have in our lands. These Indonesiaons CHOSE Sharia law in their country. Indonesia is A MUSLIM COUNTRY! Yet Westerners still want to force democracy on them against their will. Give me a break!!!

[sanowasi]

Again, obviously you dont have any idea about the Republic of Indonesia. If you don't there is no point in listening to you. This Republic is a developing nation, there will be many unhappy people who thinks that their system is not good enough. But they don't know what will happen to them if they choose Syariah, because they are uneducated in this topic. The only "education" is from the fundamentalist clerics. This is sad, but true. This video tells of an UNEDUCATED CHOOSING by the people.

[sanowasi]

Truthfully, whether you agree or not, Islam is NOT native to SEA, and it IS colonising our land. We want peace and freedom, but we haven't got the proper education and a good economy. With these gap, there came Islam as a foreign ideology from Middle East who said that they are going to fill those gaps. When people are uneducated, they are gullible, and they will follow any person who could promise you any happiness, whether tangible or not. SEA NEEDS EDUCATION, NOT MIDDLE EAST NONSENSE.

[OxAO]

very nice post very well said

Thank you

[newtype64]

True many Saudis do not allow pockets of Western style liberty on their Muslim population. But do Westerners practice Islamic style law on their NON Muslim inhabitants? Notice the double standard? You can spread your democratic values to the day you die but why do you haft to kill and force your values on Muslims when be refuse to except them????? Stop telling us how to run our own lands. THEY DO NOT BELONG TO YOU!!!!

[newtype64]

My concern is radical democracy and its rulers that have killed over a million people in the last past 10 years in the name of democracy. You are right, radicals don't care about diplomcay. The radical Americans never were diplomatic when they illegally invaded Iraq and found no WMD but are STILL there spreading democracy with a gun. The radical Americans never tried to work with the Taliban to find Bin Laden. They just began dropping bombs with no proof of their suspicisons till this very day

[sanowasi]

For an Indonesian like me this is most worrying. "Syariah" is the Middle East Islam way of imposing their cultural imperialisation in other culture, also in South East Asia (SEA). Islam is not native to SEA, the archipelago was peaceful and prosper during the Hindu/Buddhist era. They were reduced because the kings were too kind to the Arabs who brought more trades to the archipelago in exchange of Middle East Islam expansion. Wake up SEA people! We are being imperialised by Middle Easterns!

[sanowasi]

Terimakasih @cristop5, the truth is as a SE Asian I don't mind about Islam, as long as we can live peacefully side by side.

But our patience is being tested everytime they think that this Republic is theirs alone. Education is in dire priority right now to educate the people in a secular and liberal manner. The lower economy class couldn't afford this kind of education level, while the Islamic schools are free, their mindset will be easily inserted with MiddleEast extremism by the clerics.

[cristop5]

sanowasi: The Indonesian police are doing a brilliant job of tracking down muslim terrorists. But the longer term threat comes from some of the islamic schools that are filling children's minds with lies and hate.

Google "Schools books are racist" to see some of what passes for islamic education in Saudi funded Wahhabist schools.

Moderate muslims generally seem to find it hard to take on islamic extremism. Instead they try to explain it away to the west.

newtype64 is a good example of that.

[sanowasi]

Goodness. They actually put that kind of material in children schools. I would never put my chilren in this kind of hatred filled institution. Why is it so hard for the muslim to just live peacefully and let the SEA system run in freedom and peace.

@everyone: we SEAns are just one example of a developing nation caught in a war of ideology. All we want is to live in peace and freedom, that is why democracy was chosen in Indonesia. We want secular and liberal education, not Middle East hatred.

[martinasanchez95]

A filthy Jew gets upset that Muslims find happiness in Shari'a.

As for the bombings, beheadings, in Iraq, Christop - they are done by Israeli Jewish terrorists from the Israeli army. It is NOT done by Muslims. So get a fucking life!!!

Janjaweed didn't kill 40 thousand people - and Mossad/CIA is backing different milita groups in Sudan to kill each other. Don't get started on this bullshit!!!

[cristop5]

martinasanchez: Thanks for that information about the Jews doing all the terrorist activity in Iraq. And I was impressed how your research showed it's Mossad/CIA that is responsible for the troubles in Sudan.

Here are some stories for you in return:

FEMA in is building death camps across the US to exterminate most of the population.

The vapor trails behind jets are really chemicals to poison us.

The 9/11 attacks were an inside job.

Elvis Presley is still alive and living in Idaho.

[wayofthesalaf]

FYI: Under shariah men are legally obligated to take care of financial needs of women, whereas women have no financial obligations, hence the reason men get more inheritance. Freedom of speech is only regulated when one insults what God has deemed sacred. When a society is based on obedience to and fear of God, the population avoids His Prohibitions (unjust killing, stealing etc), but for those who are weak in faith, hash punishments for PROVEN crimes work as great deterrents. Read history.

[newusername01]

Well, get used to Islam now because that is our future.

[cristop5]

newusername01: Our future is continuing overpopulation, an increasingly inhospitable climate and ongoing environmental degradation. This can only result in famine, wars and the end of our race.

Religions based on the rule book of some ancient desert tribes have nothing to offer a planet undergoing this process. Apart from facilitating the war thing perhaps.

[newusername01]

I don't understand how your reply relates to my comment. Yes, the future of the world is going to be (and currently is) overpopulaion, war and famine but is also going to be Islam.

I'm not suggesting that an Islamic Theocracy would be a good thing; I'm just saying it is enevitable.

[cristop5]

newusername: I could get used to it, or I could point out its irrelevance to the mankind's problems.

Trouble is "getting used to it" lets pointless and destructive thinking prosper unchallenged. You do that if you like, but I'd rather resist it.

You (rightly) challenge the premises of anti-islamic posters, but can't bring yourself to criticize islam. You're passive in that respect.

Whether or not islam is the future is up to all of us. But you can sit this part of our history out if you like.

[newusername01]

You said:"You (rightly) challenge the premises of anti-islamic posters"

- No, I didn't. You seem to be under the delusion that I am happy that Islam will be the dominant religion in the future. This is a fact, the growth rate of Islam is staggering especially in Europe.

[newtype64]

If Islam disriminates so much how come the first place that practiced Islamic law was a non Islamic state that INVITED Islamic law to be practiced? I even saw a Christian woman say she wanted Sharia in Britian. How are minorities oppressed under sharia?

[kaxitaksi]

Sharia= back to the dark age and barbarism..

[indypindy2]

Just shows how the people prefer a more liberating system like the shariah as opposed to a more backwards and oppressive system of democracy/secularism.

[ncfwhitetigress]

How is it more liberating? I don't know much about shariah so that's why I ask...

[indypindy2]

it is liberating, because it guarantees food, clothing, shelter to every citizen. Not a single individual will go to bed hungry or oppressed. Secondly, the resources of the state belongs to the people, not to large multinational coorporations who make huge profits of off resources such as oil etc... Thirdly, taxes are only paid by nonmuslims residing in the state, but are much less than what the average individual pays today.

[Chiflado21]

@indypindy2 I love your sarcasm

[thpt]

The less religious a country, the more prosperous and healthy its people are. That this has happened to some regions is sad.  Manipulating people through poverty and fear is reprehensible.

[newusername01]

"The less religious a country, the more prosperous and healthy its people are."

Your treading very close to claiming correlation = causation. However that statement isn't true to begin with. UAE, Finland and turkey are very religious countries and have a high standard of living. Where as Estonia and the Czech Republic have a high level of non-belief and have a low standard of living.

[Chiflado21]

@newusername01 Finland is not a very religious country, it has about 60% atheists, just FYI. Similarly to other countries that have a high standard of living and are not religious, e.g. Sweden, Japan. Your list is not only selective, it's also incorrect

[newusername01]

@Chiflado21

"Finland is not a very religious country"

not according to the database of 'Statistics Finland' in 2008 over 80% were members of the Lutheran church of Finland.

Also you miss my point. The video tries to imply a correlation when one can be formed. and no it can't. Yes, they nicely make a correlation line but it fails to rule out many other factors that cause crime.

[Chiflado21]

@newusername01 There's a difference between being a member of the state church and being a believer. In Scandinavian countries, all citizens automatically become members of the state church when they are born. Most people don't bother quitting because it's deemed unnecessary paperwork and they don't have to pay tithes anyway, so why bother officially leaving the church (unlike in Germany where you have to pay 1% of your income as tithes if you are a church member)

[Richardcuz420]

ALLAH U AKBAR!!! Inshallah Shariah will finally rule the Muslim world. Simon's fails to mention how Indonesia suffers from extreme poverty thanks to its dutch colonial system Interest Based Economy. This is true democracy, the people are deciding and the you Zionist pukes fear the rise of Islam because it will lead to your end! Hypocrites, your definition of Democracy means to submit to Zion. Allah U AKBAR!!!!!

[cristop5]

ALLAH U AKBAR!!! All the world's problems must be blamed on Israel or America! Or hey we can blame this one on the Dutch who left Indonesia 60 yrs ago!

Don't listen to educated people who will tell you that democracy literally means government by the people (demo=people, cracy=government). No! TRUE democracy means obeying a man with a black rag wrapped around his head.

The less sense you make the louder you have to scream ALLAH U AKBAR!!! to show that if you have religion you don't need sense.

[indypindy2]

Yes much of the world's problems can be blamed on Israel/America. Just cuz democracy means that does not mean we actually see it benefitting the people. The only benefit we see today is for the rulers, where the rich get richer, and the poorer get poorer. Some ppl are content with being sheeps drifting in the same corrupt.oppressive system, others want a change for the better.

[cristop5]

indypindy: You can take comfort in knowing that if everyone in the west limited education to memorizing ancient tribal stories, and if we excluded women from economic and social life, we would be as poor as most islamic countries.

[Mattrix0]

You mean most of the worlds problems can be blamed on Yahweh, Allah, Jehovah, or any of the other deitys people made up.

[Richardcuz420]

Did I blame America? Educated people? This is a Government by the people, just not your people.

[KosmicCitizen]

Western neo-colonialists and exploiters create Islamists.

[cristop5]

KosmicCitizen: ALLAH U AKBAR!!! On behalf of the Janjaweed and Al Quaeda mass murderers I would like to thank you for sparing us from having to answer for our ourselves. It's those damned neo-colonialists!

Janjaweed: "the 400,00 we have killed in Darfur is our way of resisting the neo-colonialists!"

Al Quaeda: "We do all those obscene tortures, beheadings bombings etc. because of exploitation by neo-colonialists. If everyone just did what we want we wouldn't have to do this sort of stuff."

[KosmicCitizen]

Sorry I couldn't give you piety - it might have suited you better.

[newtype64]

Why do Westerners automaticly assume that us darkies want to be like them???? NEWS FLASH! We have our own ideas and ways of doing things and we don't need your way of life to be happy. Sorry, I haft to be so blunt but people really need to hear it.

[ngarbo00]

i'm saying that they should be less like us, be more secularly progressive and independent, especially in gov't and move away from religious tyranny. unless of course you're cool with cleansing allah's holy land of apostates and gays.

[newtype64]

Secularism has nothing to do with progression. If you are an aposte or a homosexual it does not mean that you will be "cleansed" from the land. It means that they can't be practiced or endorced in public. They must be kept in private. If thats what the majority of people want then it it is their right. These are not dumb ignorant savages that want this law, they are able to reason & make decisons just like you are. It makes me angry that Westerners NEVER try to understand or learn from others.

[ngarbo00]

sharia law, the law of islam, is a penal code which demands an islamic totalitarian gov't authority and prosecutes apostates among many other atrocities. if they don't repent...execution bitches!

this is barbaric oppressive tyranny and if the majority of people want to murder apostates b/c they stole themselves from allah, the invisible sky man, then they are dumb ignorant savages and it should not be their right. It makes me angry that many muslims NEVER try to progress beyond the dark ages.

[indypindy2]

yes there is execution for treason, something present today, even in many democratic systems.

[ngarbo00]

when you equate apostacy with treason, you have a major flaw in your thinking. you're wrong, indy.

[newtype64]

How can Sharia be tolitarian if the people CHOOSE to have it? Further more who are you to define what progress is?

[ngarbo00]

1. because islamic doctrine establishes itself as such, and poor/uneducated people are easy to manipulate.

2. good point, newtype - we don't agree, so I should just shut up, right? thats very totalitarian of you. really.

[newtype64]

1. Actually many educated people want Sharia as well. This is propagnda, just because some one is poor does not mean they can't reason.

2.I never said shut up, you did. I just said don't have a "white man's burden attitude". Not to be racist because a white man invented that term.

2.

[newtype64]

By the way apostacy is seen as treason when you try to overtheow the government that is in place. Not for peaceful apostacy. Try asking someone who knows Islam.

[cristop5]

newtype64: Have a look at some of the videos on the side bar on this page. I would call people who burn down christian homes dumb, ignorant savages. There is no respect for privacy or freedom of expression here. Last week three Iranian men were sentenced to death for committing homosexual acts. It is Islam that is driving this barbarity. You should acknowledge the facts. If you think this is not the true spirit of islam fine. But tell the arseholes who really need to hear it, not westerners.

[newtype64]

Sharia does not call for burning down non Muslm homes. That would be a crime under Sharia. As far as thoses gay men, I heard that they actually molested a young boy. You are free to express your self in the privacy of your own home but not in public. You claim that Islam is barbaric yet America has the highest prison population and insane asylum population in the whole world. Japan has the highest suicide rate in the whole world . Sharia is their choice not everyone wants democracy.

[cristop5]

newtype64: Google "Iran set to execute three young men convicted of homosexuality" This is not about those boys back in 2005. If this is not barbaric, nothing is.

Consider this as a principle: If somebody's actions do not harm others, those actions are not wrong. Nor are they anyone else's business. Sound reasonable?

You might not like homosexuality, but if it is not forced on you, mind your own business! My niece is gay and a fine, loving person. If god hates her, he's a fuckwit.

[newtype64]

Homosexuality in Iran is practiced just like in all Muslim countries. The only diffrence is that it is to be practiced behind closed doors. There are places were gays meet up and hang out. However no PDA is allowed. Keep it behind closed doors where it belongs. It is all about modesty. Same goes for straight people as well.

[cristop5]

newtype64 1. "Mehdi P and Moshen G denied the charges against them and no witnesses were found." There goes your first and only point. 2. Even if they were seen, the death penalty (!) is an hysterical response. So what will you do? a) Respond to my previous comment having thought it through for yourself. b) Condemn the executions. c) Campaign to bring in these "not barbaric" laws into the US. d) Keep repeating your irrelevant PDA crap? e) Change the subject to Palestine. Face reality.

[newtype64]

Just because these boys may or may not did not have gotten a fair trial does not mean Sharia works in such a way. Why don't you use your energy worrying about why blacks are 5 times more likely to go to prison then whites for the same crime in secular democratic America.

I and many other Muslims want Sharia law regardless of what you say. Please don't drop your bombs on us because we don't want your democray.

[cristop5]

So you want to both bring in the (NOT barbaric LOL!) hanging of homosexuals, and also change the subject to differing racial incarceration rates. That's two of my five possible responses. Well done.

Lets see. You would champion one minority (blacks) but not another (gays).

And that would be because you are black but not gay.

Deep, very deep.

Bomb you? In just the last month islamic extremists have killed around 300 people in Pakistan! And YOU are worried about being bombed by ME?

[newtype64]

Like I said before that trial in Iran is not how Sharia law works. Secondly you don't know anything about Pakistani politics. Funny enough all of this violence happened once America reared its peacful face. Anyway Indonesia is the largest Muslim country and the world. The people chose to have Sharia. There current system seemsto not be workingand so that is their new choice. You don't haft to live there so why do you care? Keep out of other countries business and worry about America.

[sanowasi]

I won't accept your statement that "Indonesia is a muslim country". Obviously you don't know the system in this Republic. As an Indonesian, I'll tell you, INDONESIA IS NOT A MUSLIM COUNTRY. IT IS TRUE THAT IT IS A COUNTRY WITH THE HIGHEST POPULATION OF MUSLIM, BUT WE ARE NOT RUN UNDER SYARIAH LAW, THE CONSTITUTION IS NOT BASED ON SYARIAH LAW, BECAUSE IT IS A REPUBLIC AND A DEMOCRACY. The Republic is having a lot of pressure because of this kind of misunderstanding. Please stop this nonsense.

[cristop5]

newtype64: Islam is all about poking its nose into everybody's life and thoughts, and dictating what people can do and think. So how DARE you tell me to "Keep out of other countries business"?!

Why do I care about other people and other places? Because principles of right and wrong do not stop or start at a country's borders, and because human rights are universal. Sharia punishes victimless crimes. That is simply wrong.

[newtype64]

Isn't telling people in other countries what leagal system they should live under the same thing as poking your nose into everyone's life? Aren't your actions the same as what you accuse Sharia of doing? We Muslims believe Sharia isbetter than secular democracy you can't tell me or other Muslims that we haft to live by your ways. Stop FORCING your values on people especially when your opinion was not asked for. You wonder why people call Westerners imperialist now? Can you say NEO-COLONIZTION?

[cristop5]

People are being stoned, whipped, hung and mutilated under sharia law. But to you the great problem is that I am critical of this!

"Oh, it's so impolite to condemn us for torture, when we didn't ask for your opinion! Don't oppress us by speaking up for those we are oppressing.."

[newtype64]

I know people who have lived form Saudi to Pakistan. I have never heard of such things or any complaints about it from my Ameircan firends that lived their or visited. In fact the United Arab Emrites have the same laws and that does not keep Westerners from flocking to Dubai now does it? I am an American so I can speak about what I feel about America.

[cristop5]

"Can you say NEO-COLONIZTION?" Yep, I can even spell it.

Islam is trying to impose itself the world over, but to put an opposing view is "neo-colonization"! Sharia enforces thought control through torture and executions, but to put an opposing view is to "force" my values on people! You are joking, right?

You are slow to recognize it, but there is a war of ideas going on and you are basically unarmed. My thinking is directed by reason & compassion. Yours is from a 7th century pedophile warlord.

[newtype64]

"My thinking is directed by reason & compassion. Yours is from a 7th century pedophile warlord. "

So does this mean you won't be comming to my Ramadan party next year?

[cristop5]

LOL!

[sanowasi]

@newtype64:please keep the discussion here, don't send me private messages. No I'm not a muslim, as I told you, Islam is not native to SEA. And I don't want Middle East law interfere with SEA life. And yes I choose democracy over syariah because I want freedom and peace. And Syariah could not bring that to SEA.

When I say education, I mean a secular, liberal education which does not involve any religious, or Middle Eastern symbolism or way of life. Hope you understand what I am referring to.

[newtype64]

Your country is poor because you have currupt selfish government officials. Don't blame that on Islam. The funny thing is there are places that are more developed then Indonesia that have Islamic governments. And there are also places that are less developed then Indonesia with secluar democratic governments.

[sanowasi]

I don't blame it on anyone. Each developing nation have problem of their own, whether secular or not. You also cannot say that Islam bring growth and development. The Republic have had problems with Islam since its first conception as a secular nation. Thousands of people got killed in the Darul Islam 1950s rebellion and we non-muslims got caught between the fundamentalists and the military. Don't start to tell me not to blame it on Islam, ok, you haven't live here in Indonesia as long as I.

[newtype64]

By the way I only brought up the black incarceration statistic to show your hypocrisy not to show that I supported the situation in Iran.

[Prina76]

it's not just a step back, it's more like running backwards!

[vicket76]

look up the word religion in merriam-webster and follow the "more" prompts. it ends up at ligature.

[teracall]

This is ridiculous, how can the president stand by and allow this.

[RationalConclusion]

Religion is the scourge of humanity.

[Aaberg123]

It really depends on where you're going. I've been to places that has very strong representation of government (good and bad), and had a strong sense of law and order, but I've also been to place that had no legal representation at all, beyond a local chief.

So no, this isn't too surprising.

[naliuj]

i have a lot of mixed feelings about this, if a population chooses to live its life and agrees that its community should be governed by religious laws then what right do i have to tell them otherwise. but as a westerner it really offends my sensibilities of individual rights and freedoms.

[Mastikator]

Poor Indonesians :(

Oh, and by the way. USA, DON'T INVADE INDONESIA! Ok? Please?

[gotilk]

Religion, a solution seeking a problem for thousands of years.

[CHUCKtheFED]

LOL

you have my vote for best paraphrase

[Atheistprimate]

Religion is the greatest danger to the long term outcome of our species short of a comet hitting the planet again.

No religion is good religion.

[ngarbo00]

sweet.  does this mean women are officially furniture in these islands?

religion...always praying on the poor.

[HiAdrian]

*preying (and praying of course) :)

[ngarbo00]

leave it to a german to correct an american's english. you guys need more video games.